Artindia2005

4th July 1966 Delwada village (Gujarat) a child is born. Parents name him Jitendra. From his very childhood Jitendra was different. He used to paint on the walls of his village home. His mother, a humble soul never refrained her son from messing the walls. In fact she encouraged him. His father a humble person by nature had to work hard to make a living. Young Jitendra helped him in his work.

At the age of six Jitendra joined the village school. Fortunately for him the school encouraged all forms of arts. His uncle who was an artist helped him in developing his interest and skills in art. Young Jitendra used to participate in Drawing Competitions held at various places and always come within the first three.

Seeing the potential of the child his elder brother who had by now moved to the city make arrangements and got him admitted to M.S. University Baroda from where he did his Master of Art in Creative Painting. In college he excelled in Lithography. Being a Rebel by nature, he constantly experimented different techniques & art forms. He started painting on large canvases. He used to burn plywood and try out different ways of creating art. Once a whole lot of his paintings got burnt in the process.

Around this time, he fell in love with a girl who was his classmate both of them were seekers, exploring the mysteries of life. They got to know about Osho. They read a lot of books on Osho. Later they took Sanyas. At Rajkot (Gujarat). His Sanyas name was swami Antarvartan. His friends called him Vartan. Vartan and his girlfriend conducted a number of Art workshop together. They then moved to Osho’s Pune Commune. For over a year Vartan’s worked at the Artist workshop doing paintings for the Ashram. A number of Vartan’s Art exhibitions took place around this time at the Commune.

With the passage of time they started drifting away from each other. Vartan’s by now was going through mental turmoil. There was a feeling of being rejected. He had before him two choices either get drowned in the sorrows of a failed relationship or do some soul searching. He moved to the nearby mountains, which is close to Pune. The name of the place is Mystic village. Here he lived close to Mother Nature. He hardly spoke around this time. It was during his stay at the Mystic Village he experienced Satori. Three year latter he returned to a normal life. He came out spiritually strong
and vibrant. By now he was a transformed person. He chose to live in the moment.

Vartan’s paintings are abstract. It reflects raw feelings presented in the simplest forms and colors.
“Abstract art is the essence of what is named reality. It is the true flower hidden within the color and petals, hidden with the form. It is this form that is finally projected on the canvas.”

He dives into his painting, flow’s with it, lives with it, this has been his approach to painting. Vartan’s painting creates on canvas something of himself after he has given it the power of expressions. It is through his art he speaks directly to his viewer. The harmony and balance of elements reflected in his painting evokes great mystery.

Vartan’s painting represent the five elements of Nature or the five Tattva’s.

The basic colors that dominate his paintings are white, Red & Blue. White represents water, which is cool. Red represents fire, which is hot, and Blue represents Air, which is Erratic. This also sums up his basic nature, which is sometimes cool, sometimes hot and sometimes erratic. Blue has the quality of touch, Red has the quality of creating forms, and White has the quality of taste. Vartan with his touch creates forms, which has taste. You will find the flow of water, the heat of fire and movement & vibrations of air in his paintings.


Sunith Bhasker.



Vartan`s view

I immensely enjoy watching the works of the Masters like Jackson Pollock, Howard Hodgkin, Franze Kline and Mark Rothko. I also like the works of Laxman Shrestha and S.H. Raza.

I use thick canvas for my paintings. Many of my painting involve rubbing, scratching and removing paint to create texture and layering. I also use water and oil for a transparent effect.

My Paintings are not expression’s which come from concepts and idea’s that come from the intellect, the mind. But it comes from beyond the mind in the form of visions